Vehicle and trip data navigation for communication service monitoring using map graphical interface

ABSTRACT

An apparatus or system for monitoring a network communication system onboard a vehicle includes control circuitry configured to obtain location data for a plurality of vehicles within a geographic area, and generate graphical interface data representing a map of the geographic area and vehicle icons at positions on the map corresponding to respective geographic locations of associated vehicles. In response to user input associated with a vehicle icon, graphical interface data is generated representing a vehicle identifier and a trip identifier. In response to user input associated with the vehicle identifier, graphical interface data is generated representing the set of vehicle data, including communication service data for a communication service provided on the vehicle. In response to user input associated with the trip identifier, graphical interface data is generated representing the set of trip data, including communication service data related to a trip.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to mobile communicationssystems, and more particularly to monitoring communication systemsonboard vehicles.

As high-performance networking capabilities have been made available tomobile platforms, managing network performance and user satisfaction forthese networks has increased in complexity. Therefore, improved methodsof characterizing the performance of network communication services tomobile platforms are needed.

SUMMARY

In some implementations, the present disclosure relates to an apparatusfor monitoring a network communication system onboard a vehicle. Theapparatus comprises a network interface and control circuitry. Thecontrol circuitry is configured to obtain location data indicatinggeographic locations of a plurality of vehicles within a geographicarea. The control circuitry is further configured to generate firstgraphical interface data representing a map of the geographic area and aplurality of vehicle icons. Each of the plurality of vehicle icons is ata position on the map corresponding to a respective geographic locationof one of the plurality of vehicles. The control circuitry is furtherconfigured to, in response to receiving an indication of a first userinput associated with a first vehicle icon of the plurality of vehicleicons, generate second graphical interface data. The second graphicalinterface represents a vehicle identifier and a trip identifier. Thevehicle identifier identifies a first vehicle of the plurality ofvehicles associated with the first vehicle icon. The trip identifieridentifies a trip associated with the first vehicle. The controlcircuitry is further configured to establish a network connection withan onboard server of the first vehicle using the network interface andreceive a set of vehicle data from the onboard server via the networkconnection. The control circuitry is further configured to receive a setof trip data associated with a communication service provided by theonboard server on the first vehicle during the trip. The controlcircuitry is configured to, in response to receiving an indication of asecond user input associated with the vehicle identifier, generate thirdgraphical interface data representing the set of vehicle data. Thecontrol circuitry is further configured to, in response to receiving anindication of a third user input associated with the trip identifier,generate fourth graphical interface data representing the set of tripdata.

In certain embodiments, the set of vehicle data comprises unit statusdata for one or more devices used to provide the communication serviceonboard the first vehicle. The one or more devices may comprise one ormore of a wireless access point, an antenna power supply, an antenna, amodem, a transceiver, and a server. In some embodiments, a visualfeature of the first vehicle icon is based on the unit status data. Thevisual feature may comprise at least one of a color and a shape of thefirst vehicle icon. In some embodiments, the control circuitry isfurther configured to aggregate the unit status data for the one or moredevices. The second graphical interface data may represent a vehiclehealth icon and a visual feature of the vehicle health icon may be basedon the aggregated unit status data.

In some embodiments, the set of trip data comprises travel route datafor the first vehicle. For example, the travel route data may compriseone or more service metrics of the communication service provided on thefirst vehicle during the trip. The one or more service metrics mayinclude one or more of a number of users, a connectivity status, a datarate, a data usage value, a ping latency, a ping success value, and aload time.

In some embodiments, the set of vehicle data comprises performance dataassociated with the communication service provided on the first vehicleduring one or more previous trips of the first vehicle. In someembodiments, at least one visual feature of the first vehicle iconindicates a status level of the performance data. For example, thestatus level may be based on one or more of a data rate, a signalquality value, a latency, and a packet loss rate of the communicationservice.

In certain embodiments, the vehicle identifier is associated with afirst hyperlink and the trip identifier is associated with a secondhyperlink. The control circuitry may be further configured toiteratively perform, for the plurality of vehicles, obtaining ofrespective vehicle data.

In some implementations, the present disclosure relates to a method ofmonitoring a network communication service. The method comprisesobtaining location data indicating geographic locations of a pluralityof vehicles within a geographic area and generating first graphicalinterface data representing a map of the geographic area and a pluralityof vehicle icons. Each of the plurality of vehicle icons is at aposition on the map corresponding to a respective geographic location ofone of the plurality of vehicles. The method further comprises, inresponse to receiving a first user input associated with a first vehicleicon of the plurality of vehicle icons, generating second graphicalinterface data representing a vehicle identifier identifying a firstvehicle of the plurality of vehicles associated with the first vehicleicon and a trip identifier for a trip associated with the first vehicle.The method further comprises establishing a network connection with anonboard server of the first vehicle using a network interface, receivinga set of vehicle data from the onboard server via the networkconnection, and receiving a set of trip data associated with acommunication service provided by the onboard server on the firstvehicle during the trip. The method further comprises, in response toreceiving an indication of a second user input associated with thevehicle identifier, generating third graphical interface datarepresenting the set of vehicle data, and, in response to receiving anindication of a third user input associated with the trip identifier,generating fourth graphical interface data representing the set of tripdata.

In some embodiments, the set of vehicle data comprises unit status datafor one or more devices associated with the communication serviceonboard the first vehicle.

The one or more devices may comprise one or more of a wireless accesspoint, an antenna power supply, an antenna, a modem, a transceiver, anda server. In some embodiments, a visual feature of the first vehicleicon is based on the unit status data. In certain embodiments, themethod further comprises aggregating the unit status data for the one ormore devices, wherein the second graphical interface data represents avehicle health icon and a visual feature of the vehicle health icon isbased on the aggregated unit status data.

In some embodiments, the set of trip data comprises travel route datafor the first vehicle. For example, the travel route data may compriseone or more service metrics of the communication service provided on thefirst vehicle during the trip.

In some embodiments, the set of vehicle data comprises performance datafor the communication service provided on the first vehicle during oneor more previous trips of the first vehicle. In some embodiments, atleast one visual feature of the first vehicle icon may indicate a statuslevel of the performance data. For example, the status level may bebased on one or more of a data rate, a signal quality value, a latency,and a packet loss rate of the network communication service.

In some implementations, the present disclosure relates to a system formonitoring a network communication service. The system comprises aplurality of onboard servers, and each onboard server of the pluralityof onboard servers is disposed onboard a vehicle of a plurality ofvehicles. The system further comprises a subsystem comprising a displaydevice and an on-ground server. The on-ground server is configured toestablish a network connection with each onboard server of the pluralityof onboard servers, obtain location data indicating respectivegeographic locations of the plurality of vehicles within a geographicarea, and generate, for display on the display device, first graphicalinterface data. The first graphical interface data represents a map ofthe geographic area and a plurality of vehicle icons. Each of theplurality of vehicle icons is at a position on the map corresponding toa respective geographic location of one of the plurality of vehicles.The on-ground server is further configured to, in response to receivinga first user input associated with a first vehicle icon of the pluralityof vehicle icons, generate, for display on the display device, secondgraphical interface data. The second graphical interface data representsa vehicle identifier identifying a first vehicle of the plurality ofvehicles associated with the first vehicle icon and a trip identifierfor a trip associated with the first vehicle. The on-ground server isfurther configured to receive a set of vehicle data from a first onboardserver onboard the first vehicle via the network connection, receive aset of trip data associated with a communication service provided by thefirst onboard server during the trip, in response to receiving anindication of a second user input associated with the vehicleidentifier, generate, for display on the display device, third graphicalinterface data representing the set of vehicle data, and, in response toreceiving an indication of a third user input associated with the tripidentifier, generate, for display on the display device, fourthgraphical interface data representing the set of trip data.

In some embodiments, the display device is remotely located from theon-ground server. The the set of vehicle data may comprise unit statusdata for one or more hardware devices configured to be used to providethe communication service onboard the first vehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments are depicted in the accompanying drawings forillustrative purposes, and should in no way be interpreted as limitingthe scope of this disclosure. In addition, various features of differentdisclosed embodiments can be combined to form additional embodiments,which are part of this disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a network communications system in accordancewith one or more embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an on-ground server in accordancewith one or more embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a vehicle interior in accordance withone or more embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a graphical interface representing communicationservice status data associated with a plurality of vehicles inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a graphical interface representing a set of vehicledata in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIGS. 6A-6G illustrate example timeline graphical interfaces, which mayrepresent one or more of a variety of types of trip data in accordancewith one or more embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates a process for monitoring a network communicationservice in accordance with one or more embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The headings provided herein are for convenience only and do notnecessarily affect the scope or meaning of the claimed invention. Incertain implementations, the present disclosure relates to systems,devices and methods for monitoring network communication systems andservices onboard vehicles.

Overview

Aircrafts and other vehicles may be equipped with onboard systemsconfigured to provide communication services, such as wireless networkservices, to clients onboard the vehicle. The user experience withrespect to consumption of media or other content using suchcommunication services on a trip of the vehicle can be affected by theperformance of the communication service, which may be related to, orbased on, various service performance metrics. The term “trip,” as usedherein may refer to a travel segment and/or a period of time or space oftravel between a beginning and ending of a travel segment of a vehicleand may include any flight, voyage, cruise, or excursion taken by orotherwise associated with a vehicle, such as an aircraft. Embodimentsdisclosed herein relate to the obtaining, maintenance, and/or provisionof vehicle data and trip data related to hardware status and/or serviceperformance associated with a communication service provided on avehicle during one or more trips.

In some implementations, embodiments of the present disclosure providefor the generation, provision, and/or presentation of graphicalinterface data representing certain location data, trip data, and/orvehicle data, as well as one or more icons or links associatedtherewith. The terms “graphical interface data” and “interface data,” asused herein, may refer to any data in a computer system that is relatedto the representation of one or more graphical user interfaces orportions thereof, and may include data and/or code providinginstructions for generation and/or display/presentation of variousgraphical icons and other visual identifiers and/or features in adisplay device. That is, graphical interface data may represent variousgraphical icons and/or other visual identifiers or feature. Furthermore,graphical interface data may refer to any type of user interface pagesor portions of pages having any type of content. For example, graphicalinterface data may refer to a page of a website, a page of anetwork-enabled application, or the like, or to any type of code used bya user interface to generate some or all of a webpage, content page, orinterface. Graphical interface data may comprise code conforming to anysuitable or desirable language, such as hypertext markup language (HTML)code, Java or Javascript code, Android code, iOS code, other embeddeddevice operating system code, or the like. In some embodiments,interface data is generated, provided, and/or presented representing amap of a geographic area, wherein the map is configured to serve as amenu for selection by a user to allow access to various vehicle dataand/or trip data. Aircrafts or other vehicles may be represented on themap by icons or other visual identifiers at locations on the mapcorresponding to their respective physical locations. User input, suchas a click, tap, hover, or the like, associated with an iconrepresenting a vehicle may trigger, or result in, the generation,provision, and/or presentation of graphical interface data related to acommunication service provided on the vehicle and/or associated hardwaredevice(s) with respect to one or more trips of the vehicle. Certainvisual features of a vehicle icon may indicate a status level ofhardware device(s) and/or communication service provided on the vehicle,and therefore a user may be prompted to execute user input associatedwith a vehicle icon, or may otherwise be notified of communicationservice status, based on the visual feature(s) of the vehicle icon. Byallowing for user input and interaction associated with vehicle icons ona map, a user may be able to link to vehicle data and/or trip data forvehicles in a particular geographic area through interaction orengagement with vehicle icons represented on the map in the geographicarea.

Vehicle data associated with a communication service provided on avehicle may include any type of communication-service-relatedinformation associated with the vehicle. For example, among otherpossibilities, vehicle data may indicate a number of service casesopened within a certain period of time as a data point relating to avehicle. Vehicle data may further provide information aboutcommunication service hardware replacement or maintenance. Suchinformation may provide insight as to whether equipment replacement hascontributed to communication service performance on a vehicle. Trip dataassociated with a communication service provided during a trip mayinclude any type of communication-service-related information associatedwith the trip. For example, vehicle passenger experience reportingevents may be captured in trip data that may be presented in connectionwith interface data generated in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure. In some embodiments, visual feature(s) of a vehicleicon provide an indication of an aggregation of multiple hardware and/orservice performance status levels. Such aggregated status levelindicating visual features may, for example, indicate whether an overallhealth of a communication service system of the vehicle is good, fair,poor, or other categorization.

Communications System

In some implementations, the present disclosure provides systems,methods, and devices that provide for monitoring of communicationservices and systems onboard a vehicle. FIG. 1 illustrates acommunications system 100, which provides a context for variousembodiments disclosed herein. Many other configurations are possiblehaving more or fewer components than the communications system 100 ofFIG. 1.

In the illustrated embodiment, the communications system 100 includes aplurality of vehicles 110 a-b, shown as airplanes in FIG. 1 forconvenience, which are in communication with a terrestrial network 130via one or more satellites 105 a-b and one or more network gateways 115a-b. Although FIG. 1 illustrates airplanes, it should be understood thatthe each of the vehicles 110 a-b may be any type of vehicle, asdescribed in greater detail below. Each of the vehicles 110 a-b mayinclude a two-way communication system to facilitate bidirectionalcommunication with one of the one or more satellites 105 a-b (or othertype of access network, such as an air-to-ground network). In someembodiments, each of the vehicles 110 a-b may be associated with one ormore network service areas based on a present location of the vehicles110 a-b. For example, in some embodiments, if a vehicle 110 a-b iswithin a geographic area associated with a first network service area ofthe one or more network service areas, then the vehicle 110 a-b may beassociated with the first network service area. Alternatively, a vehicle110 a-b may be associated with one or more network service areas basedon an origin or destination of the vehicle 110 a-b, with respect to atrip of the vehicle.

The vehicles 110 a-b may be in communication with an on-ground server125 via the network 130. In some embodiments, a respective networkperformance monitoring unit 120 a-b may be positioned in a communicationpath between the vehicles 110 a-b and the network 130, so as to monitorforward and/or return link performance of service provided to thevehicles 110 a-b.

Each of the vehicles 110 a-b may be any type of vehicle, such as anairplane, a train, a bus, a cruise ship, an automobile, etc. Asillustrated, the network 130 can be any type of network and can include,for example, the Internet, an IP network, an intranet, a wide areanetwork (WAN), local area network (LAN), a virtual private network(VPN), a virtual LAN (VLAN), a fiber optic network, a cable network, apublic switched telephone network (PSTN), a public switched data network(PSDN), a public land mobile network, and/or any other type of networksupporting communication as described herein. The network 130 caninclude both wired and wireless connections, as well as optical links.

While two vehicles 110 a-b are shown in communication with the network130 via two satellites 105 a-b, techniques described herein can beapplied in many other communications environments without departing fromthe scope of the inventions. Any or all such vehicle(s) 110 a-b cancommunicate via any of one or more suitable communicationsarchitecture(s), including any suitable communications links or accessnetworks, such as satellite communications systems, air-to-groundcommunication systems, hybrid satellite and air-to-ground communicationssystems, cellular communications systems, etc. Typically, because of themobile nature of the vehicles 110 a-b, the communications architecturewill likely involve at least one wireless communications link.

The on-ground server 125 may include one or more electronic hardwarecomputers or components, including control circuitry configured toperform certain functionalities, as discussed in greater detail below.The vehicles 110 a-b may be configured to transmit vehicle-specificcommunication service performance data indicating one or morecharacteristics of communication service performance (e.g., networkcommunication service) experienced onboard the vehicle while theassociated onboard server is serviced by a particular network servicearea. The vehicle-specific communication service performance data may betransmitted or transferred from the vehicles 110 a-b to the one or moresatellites 105 a-b, and further to one of the one or more gateways 115a-b, to the network 130, and to the on-ground server 125.

In some embodiments, the vehicles 110 a-b may include positiondetermination device(s), such as an inertial measurement unit (IMU) orglobal positioning system (GPS). Such devices, if installed, may allowthe vehicle to determine its physical location, wherein such locationinformation may be utilized by the on-ground server 125 in performingcertain functionality disclosed herein. Alternatively, other techniquesfor determining a vehicle's location may be used. For example, inembodiments in which the satellite 105 a-b is a spot beam satellite, avehicle 110 a-b may be able to derive its location based on the spotbeam being used to communicate with the satellite network 160. In someembodiments, the vehicle 110 a-b may transmit its position informationto the on-ground server 125. The position information may be associatedwith vehicle-specific metrics that are collected near or at the reportedposition. This may allow the on-ground server 125 to correlateparticular vehicle-specific metrics with specific network service areasbased on the associated position. In some embodiments, location data forone or more of the vehicles 110 a-b is obtained by the on-ground server125 from a separate entity or server not shown in the diagram of FIG. 1,wherein such entity or server may receive location data from thevehicle(s) or otherwise derive the location data in some manner.

The on-ground server 125 may generate and/or provide graphical interfacedata for presentation on a display 135, for example at a monitoringstation. In some embodiments, the display 135 may be a component of theon-ground server 125, while in other embodiments, the display 135 mayconnect to the on-ground server 125 via the network 130. The on-groundserver 125 may provide user interface data for presentation on thedisplay 135 similar to the example embodiments shown in FIGS. 4, 5A-B,6A-G, and/or 7, discussed in detail below.

In some embodiments, one or more of the satellites 105 a-b, gateways 115a-b, or other ground-based network equipment (not shown in FIG. 1) maybe configured as the network performance monitoring units 120 a-b, andthus may generate return link and/or forward link vehicle-specificperformance data. For example, in some embodiments, the networkperformance monitoring units 120 a-b may be routers or other types ofnetwork equipment, and may be positioned at one end of a communicationlink providing network communication to a vehicle 110 a-b. A router maybe configured to determine vehicle-specific communication serviceperformance data by filtering data transmitted over the communicationlink to include only data destined for or received from a particularvehicle. The router may determine return link and/or forward linkvehicle-specific communication service performance data, such as returnlink and/or forward link latency, throughput, dropped packet count orpercentage, retransmission count or percentage, jitter, or otherindicators of vehicle-specific return link and/or forward linkcommunication service performance. In these aspects, the satellites 105a-b, gateways 115 a-b, or other ground-based network equipment may beconfigured to send the vehicle-specific performance data to theon-ground server 125.

On-Ground Server

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an on-ground server 225 inaccordance with one or more embodiments. The on-ground server 225represents an example embodiment of the on-ground server 125 shown inFIG. 1 and described above. Many other configurations of the on-groundserver 225 are possible having more or fewer components than thoseillustrated in FIG. 2. In some embodiments, the on-ground server 225 maybe comprised of multiple physical computers, which may be geographicallydistributed across a wide area and connected via a network. In someembodiments, the on-ground server 225 comprises a single hardwarecomputer contained within a single physical enclosure. In someembodiments, the on-ground server 225 is comprised of multiple physicalenclosures, some of which are within a single physical enclosure andsome of which are geographically distributed away from the singlephysical enclosure. Additionally, the functionalities described withrespect to the on-ground server 225 can be distributed among thecomponents of the system 100 of FIG. 1 in a different manner than shownor described herein.

With reference to FIG. 1, in some embodiments, communication serviceperformance data for one or more vehicles 110 a-b may be received by asatellite 105 a-b for example, and then received by the on-ground server125. The illustrated components and features of the on-ground server225, which represents an embodiment of the on-ground server 125 of FIG.1, include control circuitry 202 and a network interface 212. Thecontrol circuitry 202 may be in communication with the network interface212 via one or more electronic buses, or other connectivity features(not shown), of the on-ground server. The control circuitry 202 maycommunicate with the network interface 212 to transmit and/or receivepackets over a network, such as a network providing connectivity to oneor more vehicles, such as the vehicles 110 a-b discussed above withrespect to FIG. 1.

The control circuitry 202 may comprise one or more processors, volatileand/or non-volatile data storage devices, registers, amplifiers,filters, radio-frequency and/or baseband signal processing components,transceivers, device controllers, communication interfaces, and/or thelike configured to perform certain functionality disclosed herein. Thecontrol circuitry 202 includes graphical interface data generatorcircuitry 204, performance evaluator circuitry 206, metrics aggregatorcircuitry 208, and web server circuitry 210. The functionality of eachof the illustrated functional components of the control circuitry 202can be embodied in code stored or maintained in one or more volatile ornonvolatile data storage devices, which may be part of a virtual orphysical memory space accessible to the control circuitry 202. Forexample, the interface data generator 204, performance evaluator 206,metrics aggregator 208, and/or web server 210 may include code (e.g.,binary data) defining instructions that configure the control circuitry202 to perform the respective functions.

In some embodiments, the metrics aggregator 208 may include instructionsthat configure the control circuitry 202 to collect one or moreperformance metrics for a communication service provided to a monitoredvehicle, such as an aircraft, and store the performance metric data 224in the data storage 220. The metrics aggregator 208 may aggregateperformance metrics for the communication service. For example, in someembodiments, the metrics aggregator 208 may generate an average,maximum, minimum, mean, and/or median of two or more communicationservice performance metrics for a communication service provided on avehicle for at least one trip of the vehicle. The metrics aggregator 208may determine negative variances between communication serviceperformance metrics of a vehicle being monitored as it proceeds alongits travel route. Such negative variances may themselves be aggregatedto produce summary metrics (for example, one metric) representing adifference in performance of a communication service of the monitoredvehicle compared to certain performance targets 226, which may providethreshold values/metrics for evaluating communication serviceperformance. In some embodiments, aggregation of negative variances maybe divided by the duration of the given trip to the present point toprovide an average negative variance experienced during the trip.

The performance evaluator 206 may compare aggregated communicationservice performance metrics to performance target data 226, which mayinclude target threshold values for certain performance metrics. Forexample, performance target data 226 may be stored in the data storage220, and may be accessed by the performance evaluator 206 or othercomponent. The performance target data 226 may include values associatedwith Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and/or other target performancemeasures of the communication service, and may represent a variety ofmeasurement types. In one embodiment, a performance target 226 mayrepresent a target data rate, or a percentage of time the target datarate has been achieved. The metrics aggregator 208 may gather data ratestatistics over a period of, for example, an entire trip of a vehicle.The performance evaluator 206 may collect the gathered data ratestatistics and may compare them to data rate target values of theperformance target data 226. Based on the comparison, the performanceevaluator 206 may generate a data rate status level.

In some embodiments, communication service performance status levelsassociated with one or more communication service performance metricsmay implement a multi-tiered threshold scheme, such as a two-tieredthreshold scheme. For example, the performance target data 226 mayinclude a first threshold indicating that a first data rate should beachieved for at least a first percentage of a given trip, and a second(e.g., lower) data rate should be achieved for at least a second (e.g.,lower) percentage of the trip. If both the first data rate and seconddata rate targets are met, the performance evaluator 206 may indicate apositive (e.g., “normal”) data rate status level, whereas if either orboth of the first data rate and the second data rate targets are notmet, the performance evaluator 206 may indicate a negative (e.g.,“impaired”) status level. The interface data generator 204 may receivecommunication service performance status and/or value data from theperformance evaluator 206 and generate interface data including iconsand/or values with corresponding visual features based on the determinedstatus levels. For example, in some embodiments, in response to apositive status level indication, the interface data generator 204 maygenerate graphical interface data representing a green icon, and inresponse to a negative status level indication, the interface datagenerator 204 may generate graphical interface data representing ayellow or red icon.

The web server 210 may include instructions that configure the controlcircuitry 202 to provide a web-based user interface. The web-based userinterface may provide the ability for a user to provide user input forthe configuring of one or more of the threshold values or otherperformance target data discussed herein. Additionally, the web-baseduser interface may provide graphical interface data representing valuesfor the metrics collected by the systems/components described herein.The web server 210 may further be configured to generate and/or providegraphical interface data generated by the interface generator 204 to oneor more remote or local monitoring systems for display and/orpresentation to a user. The web server 210 may receive indications ofuser input in connection with a graphical interface, wherein generationof graphical interface data by the interface data generator 204 may betriggered by such user input indications, as described in detail below.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, in certain embodiments, the web server210 may provide web page data to the one or more vehicles 110 a-b, andthe metrics aggregator 208 may collect metrics indicating quality ofexperience (e.g., how quickly the web pages load) at the one or morevehicles 110 a-b. For example, the aggregated metrics may indicate anumber of seconds required, at the one more vehicles 110 a-b, to loadthe web page data provided by the web server 210. The performanceevaluator 206 may compare the aggregated metrics to performance targetdata 226 (e.g., a target maximum number of seconds) and providecorresponding status data to the interface generator 204.

Web page and/or website content may be copied to, and/or served at, theweb server 210. In this way, communication service performance metricsmay be representative of performance of the communication networkcommunicatively connecting the on-ground server 225 and the monitoredvehicle, and may not be affected by performance issues that may affecttransfer of content from the origin server (e.g., the server thatcreated the website). The web server 210 may be a single server or mayrepresent a distributed network of servers across a geographic area. Themetrics aggregator 208 may collect metrics representative of a varietyof content types, including flash pages, static content, and dynamicallyloaded content.

Vehicle Onboard Communication Service System

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a vehicle 310 in accordance with one ormore embodiments. The vehicle 310 represents an example embodiment ofone of the vehicles 110 a-b shown in FIG. 1 and described above. Thevehicle 310 may include various hardware devices, including one or moreantennas 304, a transceiver 306, a modem 308, a power supply 310,communication service management system 312, one or more wireless accesspoints (WAPs) 314, as well as one or more onboard media clients, whichmay comprise personal electronic devices (PEDs) 316 and/or passengerseat-back media systems 318. The antenna 304, transceiver 306, and modem308 may comprise a two-way communication system 302 that may beconfigured to facilitate bidirectional communication with a satellite(e.g., one of satellites 105 a-b in FIG. 1).

The two-way communication system 302 can provide for reception of aforward downlink signal from a satellite and transmission of a returnuplink signal to the satellite to support two-way data communicationsbetween media clients within the vehicle 310 and a terrestrial network(e.g., the Internet). The PEDs 316 can include smartphones, laptops,tablets, netbooks, and the like brought onto the vehicle 310 bypassengers or crew members. The PEDs 316 and/or seat back systems 318can communicate with the communication service management system 312 viaa communication link that can be wired and/or wireless. Thecommunication link can be, for example, part of a local area networksuch as a WLAN supported by the one or more WAPs 314. WAPs 314 can bedistributed about the vehicle 310, and can provide traffic switching androuting functionality; for example, as part of a WLAN extended serviceset (ESS), etc.

In operation, the communication service management system 312 installedwithin the vehicle 310 can provide uplink data received from the PEDs316 and/or seatback systems 318 to the modem 308 to generate modulateduplink data (e.g., a transmit intermediate frequency (IF) signal) fordelivery to the transceiver 306. The transceiver 306 can upconvert andthen amplify the modulated uplink data to generate the return uplinksignal for transmission to the satellite 105 via the antenna system 304.Similarly, the transceiver 306 can receive the forward downlink signalfrom a satellite via the antenna(s) 304. The transceiver 306 can amplifyand down-convert the forward downlink signal to generate modulateddownlink data (e.g., a receive IF signal) for demodulation by the modem308. The demodulated downlink data from the modem 308 can be provided tothe communication service management system 312 for routing to the PEDs316. The modem 308 can be integrated with a network performancemonitoring unit 321 of the communication service management system 312,or can be a separate component in some examples.

The network performance monitoring unit 321 may include, in someembodiments, one or more electronic hardware processors and/orelectronic hardware memory devices, and one or more network interfaces.The electronic hardware processor may be configured to perform a varietyof functions associated with monitoring the network performance of thecommunication service with respect to the vehicle 310.

The communication service management system 312 may include, in someembodiments, control circuitry 320 comprising the network performancemonitoring unit 321 and a data buffer 322. The control circuitry 320 maybe configured to perform a variety of functions associated withmonitoring the network performance of the communications serviceprovided on the vehicle 310 by the communication system 302 and thecommunication service management system 312.

In some embodiments, the communication service management system 312 maybe configured to generate performance data associated with thecommunication service provided on the vehicle 310 by the communicationsystem 302 and the communication service management system 312, andtransmit the performance data over an access network. The performancedata may be vehicle-specific performance data and/or trip-specific data.One or more metrics included in the performance data representing themeasured performance of the communication service provided on thevehicle 310 may be generated by the communication service managementsystems 312.

In some embodiments, the performance data may indicate one or moremetrics, the one or more metrics including one or more of a number oraverage number of dropped packets, average throughput or delays during atime period, an availability of the communication service during a timeperiod, data rate, signal quality values, latency, packet loss rate, anda maximum number of PEDs 316 connected, with respect to thecommunication service. In some embodiments, the availability of networkservice may be represented as a percentage of time that network servicewas available to the communication service management system 312. Insome embodiments, the vehicle-specific performance data may indicate anavailability of one or more of uplink and/or downlink communications.

The communication service management system 312 (e.g., specifically, thenetwork performance monitoring unit 321) may be further configured toperiodically re-determine one or more of the metrics described above.For example, in some embodiments, a moving average of one or more of themetrics may be determined at a periodic interval. In some embodiments,the communication service management system 312 may be furtherconfigured to periodically report one or more of the metrics to anon-ground server (e.g., the on-ground server 125 and/or the on-groundserver 225). In some embodiments, the communication service managementsystem 312 may be configured to calculate forward link performance data,while another communication service management system installedoff-board the vehicle 310 may be configured to calculate return linkperformance data.

The communication service management system 312 (e.g., specifically, thenetwork performance monitoring unit 321) may also be configured tomonitor a location of the vehicle 310 and to periodically report thelocation of the vehicle 310 over the access network to the on-groundserver. For example, the vehicle 310 may comprise positioning circuitry,such as Global Positioning System (GPS) circuitry, configured todetermine a present location or position of the vehicle 310. In someembodiments, the network performance monitoring unit 321 may associateone or more of the communication service performance metrics with one ormore vehicle 310 locations, and report the association to the on-groundserver.

The vehicle 310 comprises certain hardware devices used to provide theonboard communication service. At least some of the hardware devicesused for communication service provision on the vehicle may beself-reporting, for example by providing periodic status updates to thecommunication service management unit 312. If a status update is notreceived from a hardware device after a given period of time, the statusof the hardware device may be designated as “unknown,” or may bedefaulted to “impaired.” Certain hardware devices may be configured torecognize when it is experiencing an issue, such as not receiving arequisite voltage level. In such cases, the hardware device may generatean “error” status. Status updates collected by the control circuitry 320may be transmitted via the communication system 302 when requested bythe on-ground server or based on other events.

Graphical Interface Vehicle and Trip Data Navigation

FIG. 4 illustrates a graphical interface 400 representing communicationservice status data associated with a plurality of vehicles inaccordance with one or more embodiments. The interface 400 includes afirst graphical interface area representing a map 401 of a geographicarea, in the illustrated case, a map of the continental United States,and a plurality of vehicle icons 402 a-g overlaid on the map 401, eachof the vehicle icons 402 a-g being a position on the map correspondingto a respective geographic location of an actual vehicle beingmonitored. In the illustrated embodiment, the vehicles are aircrafts.Alternatively, other and/or additional types of vehicles (e.g., trains,cruise ships, automobiles) may be represented in the map region 401 orin similar interfaces.

Each of the vehicle icons 402 a-g may correspond to a vehicle in travel.Accordingly, a location of each vehicle, and associated vehicle icon,may change over time. Each of the vehicle icons 402 a-g may be at aposition on the map 401 that corresponds to a current or most recentknown location of one of a plurality of vehicles being monitored. Thelocation of a vehicle may be determined based on location data receivedfrom the vehicle, such as from an onboard server of the vehicle via anetwork connection, or from a different source (e.g., a vehiclemonitoring server). For example, the vehicle may provide longitudinaland latitudinal coordinates which indicate the vehicle's position on themap 401. Alternatively, location data indicating geographic locations ofone or more vehicles within the relevant geographic area may be obtainedthrough another source or means (e.g., from a vehicle monitoringserver). According to one use case, a first aircraft may be presentlytraveling over or near the city of Phoenix. The first aircraft maytransmit location data indicating the first aircraft's location.Accordingly, a first vehicle icon 402 c may be situated on the map 401at a position that corresponds to the location data received from thefirst aircraft, namely over or near the city of Phoenix on the map.Positions of vehicle icons 402 a-g may be updated when new location datais received. The map 401 may have a zoom feature to allow for zooming inand out with respect to selected portions of the map.

In some embodiments, the vehicle icons 402 a-g may include an image orother visual feature that corresponds to the type of vehicle. Forexample, because the vehicles represented in FIG. 4 are aircrafts, eachof the vehicles icons 402 a-g in the illustrated embodiment includes animage of an aircraft. A visual feature of a vehicle icon 402 a-g may beindicative of a direction of the vehicle. In some embodiments, thedirection of a vehicle may be determined based on location data receivedfrom the vehicle. For example, comparison of a present or most recentknown location status to a previous location status of the vehicle maybe used to determine the direction of travel of the vehicle. An imagecorresponding to the type of vehicle may be oriented in the vehicleicons 402 a-g based on the direction of travel.

Each of the vehicle icons 402 a-g may have any of a variety of visualfeatures. In some embodiments, a vehicle icon 402 a-g may be representedin a certain color to indicate a status of the vehicle, such as a statusof the vehicle with respect to communication service performanceprovided onboard the vehicle over a period of time or for one or moretrips. In some embodiments, if performance of a communication serviceassociated with a vehicle (e.g., WiFi network service provided onboardthe vehicle) is impaired in some way (e.g., there are no PEDs currentlyusing the network communication service), the vehicle icon may be red,or may have one or more other visual features indicating an impairedstate. In certain embodiments, the color of the vehicle icon mayindicate whether the vehicle is out of a coverage area. For example,vehicle icons corresponding to vehicles within a coverage area may begreen, while vehicle icons corresponding to vehicles outside thecoverage area may be red, according to some embodiments.

In some embodiments, the map 401 may be customized to control whichvehicle icons 402 a-g are included in the map 401. For example, in oneuse case, a user accessing the interface 400 may be an employee of anairline. The user may customize the interface 400, or the interface maybe customized automatically in view of login credentials of the user,such that only vehicle icons 402 a-g corresponding to aircraftsassociated with the airline are included in the interface 400. Thevehicle icons 402 a-g may be filtered in a variety of other ways aswell. For example, only vehicle icons 402 a-g corresponding to vehicleswith a number of PEDs above a given threshold value may be included. Inanother example, only vehicle icons 402 a-g corresponding to vehicleswith a departure time within a given time range may be included.

The interface 400 may further include one or more data tables in asecond graphical interface portion 403. In some embodiments, the secondgraphical interface portion 403 may be generated and/or presented inresponse to receipt of an indication of user input associated with avehicle icon of the first graphical interface portion 401. For example,an on-ground server may generate graphical interface data representingthe second graphical interface portion 403 and provide the graphicalinterface data for display in response to receipt of the user inputindication. The user input indication may be associated with a click,hover, tap, or other user input action executed by a user with respectto the interface portion 401. The second graphical interface portion 403may include a first area 405 representing a vehicle identifier 404, suchas a tail ID for aircraft embodiments, and/or a trip identifier 406,such as a flight number for aircraft embodiments. The first area 405 mayfurther represent additional data and/or status indications relating toone or more vehicles. For example, the data in the first area 405 may berelated to a vehicle (e.g., a first vehicle) associated with the userinput indication that triggered the generation and/or provision of thesecond graphical interface portion 403 (e.g., clicking a vehicle icon402 a-g associated with the first vehicle).

The second graphical interface portion 403 may further include a secondarea 407 comprising one or more data tables, which may be generatedand/or presented together with the first area 405, or independently fromthe first area 405. That is, in certain embodiments, only the first area405 is present, while in other embodiments, only the second area 407 ispresent. In certain embodiments, the second graphical interface portion403 may include only the second area 407 by default. In suchembodiments, the second area 407 may be sized to cover all or almost allof the second graphical interface portion 403 when the first area 405 isnot present. In response to an indication of a user input, the firstarea 405 may be added to the second graphical interface portion 403 andthe second area 407 may be reduced in size to accommodate the first area405.

In the illustrated interface 400, as well as other interfaces disclosedherewith, the character ‘X’ is used to represent an arbitrary or genericcharacter value, and may be representative of any number of charactersor values. Furthermore, a string of multiple characters ‘XX . . . ’ maybe representative of any string of one or more characters or values,such as alphanumeric characters.

A data table of the second area 407 may include various datacorresponding to each of one or more of the vehicle icons 402 a-g on themap 401. For example, each line item or entry of the data table mayinclude one or more of the following parameters or values: a generalstatus icon 408, a vehicle identifier 409, a number of PEDs 410 presenton the vehicle and/or consuming communication service thereon, altitudeor other positional information 411 (e.g., indicating an increase ordecrease in altitude, speed, or the like), a communication servicestatus icon 412, and hardware device status icon 413. The vehicleidentifiers 409 may be any identifying labels assigned to vehicles. Forexample, in the case of an aircraft, a vehicle identifier 409 may be afederal aviation administration (FAA) number. The PED data 410 mayindicate the number of PEDs onboard and/or connected to a networkcommunication service of the vehicle. Each of the status icons 408, 412,413 may have one or more of a variety of visual features. Visualfeatures may include, for example, a color (e.g., a green colorindicating a “normal” status, yellow color indicating an “impaired”status, red color indicating an “error” status, or the like), a shape(e.g., a circle indicating a “normal” status, a triangle indicating an“impaired” status, or the like), and/or a symbol (e.g., a checkmarkindicated a “normal” status, exclamation point indicating an “impaired”or “error” status, or the like). The general vehicle status icon 408 maybe an indication of aggregated performance data and/or hardware devicedata for the vehicle. For example, if both the communication serviceicon 412 and hardware device icon 413 indicate a “normal” status, thegeneral vehicle status icon 408 may also indicate a “normal” status,whereas if either the communication service icon 412 or the hardwaredevice icons 413 indicate an “impaired” status, the general vehiclestatus icon 408 may also indicate an “impaired” status. Alternatively,the general vehicle status icon 408 may indicate an “impaired” statusonly if both the communication service icon 412 and the hardware deviceicon 413 indicate an “impaired” status. “Error” status for the generalvehicle status icon 408 may likewise be based on a corresponding “error”and/or “impaired” status of one or both of the communication serviceicon 412 and the hardware device icon 413.

Each of the vehicle icons 402 a-g may be selectable via user input. Incertain embodiments, a hover event (or a click, tap, or other user inputevent) at a first vehicle icon 402 e may cause generation of a pop-upbox 414 at or near the first vehicle icon 402 e. The pop-up box 414 mayinclude any of a variety of data associated with a first vehiclecorresponding to the first vehicle icon 402 e. For example, the pop-upbox 414 may include a vehicle identifier, altitude measurement, and anumber of PEDs present on the vehicle and/or consuming communicationservice thereon.

As referenced above, in some embodiments, a click event (or a hover,tap, or other user input event) at a vehicle icon 402 a-g may causegeneration of the first area 405 of the second graphical interfaceportion 403. Although described above as being part of a graphicalinterface portion that also includes the second area 407, in someembodiments, the first area 405 is separate from the second area 407and/or second graphical interface portion 403. The first area 405 mayinclude a data table, or other data representation, representing vehiclehealth information. The vehicle health information may include a varietyof data associated with the vehicle, for example a vehicle identifier404, a trip identifier 406, departure information (e.g., location, time,date), arrival information (e.g., location, time, date), a generalvehicle status icon, a number of PEDs onboard and/or connected to anetwork communication service of the vehicle, altitude, speed, latitude,and/or longitude. Each of the vehicle identifier 404 and the tripidentifier 406 may have associated hyperlinks. In some embodiments, asdescribed in detail below, a hyperlink associated with the vehicleidentifier 404 may be configured to generate graphical interface datarepresenting a vehicle health page. In some embodiments, as described indetail below, a hyperlink associated with the trip identifier 406 may beconfigured to generate graphical interface data representing a trip datapage. Therefore, the map graphical interface 401 may advantageouslyprovide an efficient and simple view of vehicle locations, as well asadditional information of the vehicles. By accessing the map graphicalinterface 401, users may be able to quickly identify vehicles which maybe experiencing issues. Moreover, the map 401 may include variousinteractive features to allow users to quickly access additionalinformation relating to communication system and/or hardware status ofvehicles of interest with respect to one or more trips of the vehicle.

Vehicle Data Graphical Interface

FIG. 5 illustrates a graphical interface 500 representing a set ofvehicle data in accordance with one or more embodiments. In someembodiments, the graphical interface 500 and/or associated interfacedata may be generated in response to user input associated with avehicle identifier, such as user input associated with the vehicleidentifier 404 of the interface 400 shown in FIG. 4 and described above,or similar interface. The vehicle data interface 500 may include avehicle health table 502, which may comprise the vehicle identifier 504,data related to open cases 506, data related to equipment swaps 508,and/or data related to passenger contacts 510.

Cases 506 may be any reports generated by passengers and/or personnelassociated with a vehicle. A case 506 may represent a reported problemassociated with the vehicle, for example. The number of cases 506 openedfor the vehicle may be included in the health table 502, while a list ofcases reported within a given period of time may be included in a casestable 522. Each listed case may have an identification number, a type, acategory, and a subject. The case table 522 may further include progressinformation for each case, for example a priority level, a status, adate/time created, and a most recent status date/time.

The vehicle data interface 500 may further include a hardware devicetable 512, which may comprise a variety of data related to individualhardware devices of the vehicle. For example, the listed hardwaredevices may be associated with the communication service providedonboard the vehicle. Each device may be provided in connection with adata entry comprising one or more of the associated device name,identification number, status, hardware information (which may include apart number and/or revision number), software information (which mayinclude a revision number), and firmware (which may include a revisionnumber).

Information included in the vehicle data interface 500 may be useful indiagnosing issues with a vehicle. For example, a large number of casesopened for a vehicle may indicate a possible issue, and certainresponsive measures may be taken. For example, equipment within thevehicle may be replaced based on vehicle data presented in the vehicledata interface 500. Using equipment status information on the vehicledevice table 512 may indicate whether replacing of equipment hascorrected a known issue. With reference back to the graphical interface400 of FIG. 4 described above, if a vehicle icon on the map graphicalinterface 401 indicates a possible issue with the associated vehicle(e.g. there are no PEDs connected), a user may select the vehicle icon402 a-g and/or the vehicle identifier 404 to view the vehicle datainterface 500 to better diagnose the issue.

Equipment statuses may be aggregated to generate an overall hardwaredevice status of the vehicle. For example, if each device has a “normal”status, an overall status of the vehicle may be “normal.” Accordingly, avehicle icon on the map graphical interface 401 of FIG. 4 associatedwith the vehicle may be indicative of the “normal” status (e.g. thevehicle icon may comprise a green color and/or checkmark symbol). Ifany, or a certain number, of the equipment statuses has an “impaired”status, the overall status of the vehicle may be “impaired.” Similarly,if any, or a certain number, of the statuses are listed as “unknown” or“error,” the status of the vehicle may be “unknown” or “error,”respectively.

In some embodiments, the vehicle data interface 500 may further includeperformance data associated with a communication service provided on avehicle during one or more previous trips of the vehicle. Theperformance data may be vehicle-specific performance data and/ortrip-specific data.

In some embodiments, the performance data may indicate one or moremetrics, the one or more metrics including one or more of a number oraverage number of dropped packets, average throughput or delays during atime period, an availability of the communication service during a timeperiod, data rate, signal quality values, latency, packet loss rate, anda maximum number of PEDs connected, with respect to the communicationservice during one or more previous trips of the vehicle. In someembodiments, the availability of network service may be represented as apercentage of time that network service was available to thecommunication service management system during the one or more previoustrips of the vehicle. In some embodiments, the vehicle-specificperformance data may indicate an availability of one or more of uplinkand/or downlink communications.

Trip Data Graphical Interface

Selecting a trip identifier (e.g., trip identifier 406 in FIG. 4) maycause generation of trip data graphical interface data representing aset of trip-specific communication service data for a selected trip.That is, for example, in response to receiving an indication of userinput associated with a trip identifier, in some embodiments, anon-ground server or other system or entity may generate graphicalinterface data representing a set of trip data, as described in detailherein. FIGS. 6A-6G illustrate example graphical interface timelines,which may represent one or more of a variety of types of trip data. Asshown in Figured 6A-6G, types of trip data may include a number ofactive users (FIG. 6A), connectivity status (FIG. 6B), data rate (FIG.6C), data usage (FIG. 6D), ping latency (FIG. 6E), ping success (FIG.6F), and/or load time (FIG. 6G). Each illustrated timeline interface mayrepresent statistical values over a period of time of interest. Theperiod of time of a timeline may represent a set duration of time (e.g.,a duration of a trip), or may represent a customized time range. In someembodiments, the time range may be divided into multiple points in time,and each point in time may have an associated statistical valuerepresented in the timeline. As shown in FIG. 6A, a user may provideuser input to select a start date/time and/or an end date/time. Aninterface representing the timeline may be generated to include avehicle identifier for the vehicle represented by the vehicle data. Insome embodiments, users may input different vehicle identifiers at thetrip interface 600 a to view statistics for different vehicles.

FIG. 6A illustrates a trip timeline graphical interface 600 arepresenting a number of user devices accessing any of one or morecommunication service services 610 at each point in time during thespecified time range. In some embodiments, a “user device” may be anyclient device accessing a network service of the one or more services.For example, a user device may be a PED belonging to a passenger of avehicle, a network communication server on-board the vehicle (e.g., aserver for managing subscriptions to the communications service or aserver collecting communications service statistics), or a media server(e.g., providing in-flight entertainment content, or the like, tousers), among others. Each user device may be associated with one ormore communication services. In certain embodiments, communicationservices may include multiple levels of service that personal userdevices may connect to by accessing a web portal, selecting a service,and in some cases paying a fee. Services that personal user devices mayconnect to may include a default service, a beta or trial service,and/or a premium service, among others.

The trip timeline interface 600 a may be useful for determining when abreak in service may have occurred. For example, if a portion of time inthe illustrated time range shows no, or relatively few, connected users,it may be determined that there was a service issue during that periodof time. The timeline may be zoomable to allow for focusing on certainportions of time. By zooming in, individual data points in the timelinemay be clearer for viewing.

FIG. 6B illustrates a connectivity status timeline graphical interface600 b for one or more devices. In the example shown in FIG. 6B, theconnectivity status timeline shows two devices (‘A,’ ‘B’). However, moredevices or a single device may be represented in other examples. Foreach device, the timeline may represent any “pings” received from thedevice. The term “ping,” as used herein, may refer to any signal orcommunication transmitted at, or received from, a computing device overa network. Each ping may have an associated level which may bedetermined based on a quality of the ping. Example levels may includenormal, partial, impaired, and/or unknown, among others. Each ping maybe represented in the timeline based on the associated level. Forexample, a normal ping may be represented by a circle shape, a partialping may be represented by a diamond shape, an impaired ping may berepresented by a square shape, and an unknown ping may be represented bya triangle shape. However, such shape assignments are provided asexamples only, and different levels may be represented by any suitableor desirable shape. Furthermore, ping levels may be associated with anyother visual features, for example colors or shapes other than thoselisted above.

FIG. 6C illustrates a data rate timeline graphical interface 600 c. Theterm “data rate,” as used herein, may refer to a speed at which data istransferred within a computing device and/or between computing devicesof a network. Data rate may be measured by a number of bytes (orkilobytes) per second, and can be averaged across devices. Data rate maybe measured by multiple measuring devices, for example a server and/or amodem on-board a vehicle. Measurements may be collected and downloadedto an on-ground server when service is available. In some embodiments,data rate measurements may be compared to threshold and/or target valuesand various statuses (e.g., overall vehicle status) as described hereinmay be modified based on the comparisons.

The timeline interface 600 c may represent one or both of a forward link(FL) data rate and a return link (RL) data rate over a specified periodof time. A FL data rate may refer to a data rate for transmitting datafrom an on-ground server to a vehicle. In some embodiments, FL data maybe transmitted from the on-ground server to a satellite, then from thesatellite to a server on the vehicle, then from the on-board server to auser device on the vehicle. FL data may generally be relatively greaterin amount than return link data. RL data may refer to data transmitted(e.g., a request for a video or other media) from an on-board device toan on-ground server. For example, from a user device to an on-boardserver, from the on-board server to a satellite, and from the satelliteto the on-ground server.

FIG. 6D illustrates a data usage timeline graphical interface 600 d,which may represent a total amount of data usage over a period of time.In some embodiments, data usage amounts may be aggregated or accumulatedover the course of a flight or other period of time. As shown in FIG.6D, data usage may be collected for both forward link (FL) data rate andreturn link (RL) data rate.

FIG. 6E illustrates a ping latency timeline graphical interface 600 e.The term “ping latency,” as used herein, may refer to an amount of timerequired to receive a response following a transmitted ping. Theinterface 600 e illustrates an example ping latency timeline for twodevices (‘A,’ ‘B’). However, ping latency interfaces 600 e in accordancewith the present disclosure may represent data for any number or type ofdevices. In some embodiments, measured ping latency values may becompared to threshold and/or target values and various statuses (e.g.,overall vehicle status) as described herein may be modified based on thecomparisons.

FIG. 6F illustrates a ping success timeline graphical interface 600 f.The ping success timeline interface 600 f may provide a success rate atvarious points in time. Success rate may be represented by a percentagemeasurement indicative of a percentage of times a response was receivedfollowing a transmitted ping. In some embodiments, ping success may beaveraged over a period of time. For example, a ping may be transmittedevery few seconds and the number of transmitted pings over a period ofone or more minutes may be divided by the number of responses to thetransmitted pings.

Ping success may be compared to a threshold value during a given periodof time. For example, there may be a threshold value for ping successover an entire flight. Accordingly, a number of transmitted pings overthe course of the flight may be divided by the number of responses tothe transmitted pings to determine an overall ping success for theflight. The overall ping success may then be compared to a thresholdping success value to determine a pass or fail status for the flight. Insome embodiments, various statuses (e.g., overall vehicle status) asdescribed herein may be modified based on comparisons to the thresholdvalue.

FIG. 6G illustrates a load time timeline graphical interface 600 g,which provides a measurement of load times over a given time range. Insome embodiments, load times may be determined at periodic intervalsduring the period of time. Multiple load time measurements may be madeusing common data sets to promote consistency between results. Forexample, multiple load time measurements may be based on load times forthe same webpage data, or webpage data from multiple websites from agroup of selected websites at different times. A web page may be firstcopied to the communication system and served from an on-board server oron-ground server of the communication system for measurement purposesrather than from external origin web servers to avoid introducing issuesassociated with external web servers. The measured load times may becompared to threshold load times and various statuses (e.g., overallvehicle status) as described herein may be modified based on thecomparisons. Load time measurements may include load times for a varietyof data types, for example flash page content, static content, anddynamically loaded content.

Communication Service Monitoring Processes

FIG. 7 illustrates a process 700 for monitoring a network communicationservice in accordance with one or more embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Steps of the process 700 may be performed by controlcircuitry of an apparatus for monitoring a network communication serviceonboard a vehicle. For example, the process 700 may be performed atleast in part by an on-ground communication service monitoring server,such as the on-ground server 125 of FIG. 1 or the on-ground server 225of FIG. 2, described in detail above. In certain embodiments, theapparatus performing some or all of the process 700 may be part of anon-ground server that is configured to monitor network communicationservices of multiples vehicles. With respect to the various methods andprocesses disclosed herein, although certain orders of operations orsteps are illustrated and/or described, it should be understood that thevarious steps and operations shown and described may be performed in anysuitable or desirable temporal order. Furthermore, any of theillustrated and/or described operations or steps may be omitted from anygiven method or process, and the illustrated/described methods andprocesses may include additional operations or steps not explicitlyillustrated or described.

At block 702, the process 700 involves obtaining location dataindicating geographic locations of a plurality of vehicles. In someembodiments, location data for a first vehicle may be received from thefirst vehicle (e.g., from a server on-board the first vehicle).Alternatively, location data may be obtained from a source external tothe first vehicle, for example a monitoring station or server associatedwith the first vehicle. In some embodiments, location data may indicatecoordinates (e.g., latitude and/or longitude) of present or recentlocations of the plurality of vehicles. Location data may also includealtitude data and/or general location data (e.g., nearest major city).

At step 704, the process 700 involves generating first graphicalinterface data. The first graphical interface data may represent a mapof a geographic area, for example the continental United States, or aportion thereof or other geographic region of the world. The graphicalinterface data may further represent a plurality of vehicle icons. Eachof the plurality of vehicle icons may be at positioned on the map basedon the obtained location data and may correspond to a respectivegeographic location of one of the plurality of vehicles. The pluralityof vehicle icons may include any of a variety of visual features, whichmay include an image of a vehicle. In some embodiments, the image of thevehicle may be oriented to represent a direction of travel of thecorresponding vehicle as determined based on the obtained location data.For example, comparing the obtained location data to previously obtainedlocation data for a corresponding vehicle of the vehicle icon mayindicate a direction of travel of the vehicle. Moreover, each vehicleicon may have a customizable color.

At step 706, the process 700 involves receiving a set of vehicle datafrom a remote server of a first vehicle of the plurality of vehicles.The vehicle data may be received through an established networkconnection using a network interface. In some embodiments, the vehicledata may comprise unit status data for one or more hardware devicesonboard the first vehicle. The one or more hardware devices may each becomponents of a network communication system onboard the first vehicle.Examples of hardware devices may include one or more WAPs, an antennapower supply, an antenna, a modem, and a web server.

At least one visual feature of a vehicle icon corresponding to the firstvehicle may be based on the unit status data received from the firstvehicle. For example, at least one of a color and a shape of the vehicleicon may be based on the unit status data. In some embodiments, unitstatus data may be determined based on signals received from theindividual hardware device. A hardware device may periodically transmita signal indicating a status determined by the hardware device itself.For example, if the hardware is not experiencing any issues, thehardware device may transmit a “normal” status. If the hardware deviceis experience an issue (e.g., not enough power), the hardware device maytransmit an “impaired” status. The signals may be sent to an onboardserver. If no signal is received from a hardware device, the hardwaredevice may be assigned an “unknown” status. If there is an issue with asignal received from a hardware device, the hardware device may beassigned an “error” status.

Unit status data may represent individual statuses for each of thehardware devices or an aggregated status for all of the hardwaredevices. For example, if all of the hardware devices have a “normal”status, the aggregated status of the first vehicle may be “normal”. Ifany of the hardware devices has an “unknown” status, the aggregatedstatus of the first vehicle may be “unknown.” If all of the hardwaredevices have “normal” statuses except for one hardware device that hasan “impaired” status, the aggregated status of the first vehicle may be“impaired.” In some embodiments, a visual feature of a vehicle iconcorresponding to the first vehicle may be based on the unit status data.For example, if the first vehicle has an aggregated “normal” status, thevehicle icon may be green. If the first vehicle has an aggregated“impaired” status, the vehicle icon may be red.

In some embodiments, the set of vehicle data may comprise performancedata associated with a communication service provided on the firstvehicle. The performance data may indicate statistical values for one ormore of data rate, signal quality, latency, and packet loss rate of thenetwork communication service. In some embodiments, the performance datamay be compared to threshold values to determine a status value for thefirst vehicle. In certain embodiments, a visual feature of a vehicleicon corresponding to the first vehicle may be based on the performancedata. For example, if each of the statistical values received in theperformance data passes a threshold value, the first vehicle may have a“normal” status. In some embodiments, comparison of performance data tothreshold values may be performed at an on-ground server. In otherembodiments, comparison of performance data to threshold values may beperformed at a server onboard the first vehicle.

At block 708, the process 700 involves receiving a set of trip dataassociated with a trip of the first vehicle. In some embodiments, thetrip data may comprise travel route data for the first vehicle, whichmay include one or more service metrics of a network communicationservice provided on the first vehicle during the trip. The one or moreservice metrics may include one or more of a number of users, aconnectivity status, a data rate, a data usage value, a ping latency, aping success value, and a load time of the network communicationservice.

In some embodiments, each of the vehicle icons may be responsive to userinputs. For example, a user may interact with a user interfacerepresenting the first graphical user interface data by hovering over afirst vehicle icon. In response to the hover event, a callout box may begenerated near the first vehicle icon providing at least a portion ofthe vehicle data and/or trip data.

At block 710, the process 700 involves receiving a first user inputassociated with a first vehicle icon of the plurality of vehicle icons.The first user input may be a hover event, a click event, or othercommand provided by a user device.

At block 712, the process 700 involves generating second graphicalinterface data in response to receiving the first user input. In someembodiments, the second graphical interface data may represent a vehicleidentifier. The vehicle identifier may identify a first vehicle of theplurality of vehicles associated with the first vehicle icon. Forexample, the vehicle identifier may be a tail number of the firstvehicle. In some embodiments, the vehicle identifier may be associatedwith a hyperlink. For example, a user may click on the vehicleidentifier to be routed to a vehicle health page providing at least someof the set of vehicle data.

In some embodiments, the second graphical interface data may represent atrip identifier for a trip associated with the first vehicle. Forexample, in the case of an airplane, the trip identifier may be a flightnumber. In some embodiments, the trip identifier may be associated witha hyperlink. For example, a user may click on the trip identifier to berouted to a trip view providing at least some of the set of trip data.

At block 714, the process 700 involves receiving a second user inputassociated with the vehicle identifier. The second user input may be ahover event, a click event, or other command provided by a user device.

At block 716, the process 700 involves generating third graphicalinterface data in response to the second user input. The third graphicalinterface data may represent at least a portion of the set of vehicledata. For example, the third graphical interface data may represent avehicle health icon that comprises a visual feature (e.g., color) thatis based on the aggregated unit status data. In certain embodiments, thethird graphical interface data may represent a vehicle health table,case table, and/or device table as described above with respect to FIG.5.

At block 718, the process 700 involves receiving a third user inputassociated with the trip identifier. The third user input may be a hoverevent, a click event, or other command provided by a user device.

At block 720, the process 700 involves generating fourth graphicalinterface data in response to receiving the third user input. The fourthgraphical interface data may represent at least a portion of the set oftrip data. For example, the fourth graphical interface data mayrepresent one or more timelines indicating statistical values ofperformance metrics measured during a trip of a vehicle, as describedabove with respect to FIGS. 6A-6G.

Each of the steps of the process 700 may be iteratively performed foreach vehicle of two or more of the plurality of vehicles. New location,vehicle, and/or trip data may be received on a periodic or other basisand corresponding interface data may be updated to include newlyreceived data.

General Comments

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout thedescription and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and thelike are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to anexclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of“including, but not limited to.” The word “coupled”, as generally usedherein, refers to two or more elements that may be either directlyconnected, or connected by way of one or more intermediate elements.Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,” and words of similarimport, when used in this application, shall refer to this applicationas a whole and not to any particular portions of this application. Wherethe context permits, words in the above Description using the singularor plural number may also include the plural or singular numberrespectively. The word “or” in reference to a list of two or more items,that word covers all of the following interpretations of the word: anyof the items in the list, all of the items in the list, and anycombination of the items in the list.

Reference throughout this disclosure to “some embodiments,” “certainembodiments” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature,structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentcan be included in at least some embodiments. Thus, appearances of thephrases “in some embodiments,” “in certain embodiment,” or “in anembodiment” in various places throughout this specification are notnecessarily all referring to the same embodiment, and may refer to oneor more of the same or different embodiments. Furthermore, embodimentsdisclosed herein may or may not be embodiments of the invention. Forexample, embodiments disclosed herein may, in part or in whole, includenon-inventive features and/or components. In addition, the particularfeatures, structures or characteristics can be combined in any suitablemanner, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art fromthis disclosure, in one or more embodiments.

The above detailed description of embodiments of the invention is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formdisclosed above. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, theinvention are described above for illustrative purposes, variousequivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the invention,as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. For example, whileprocesses or blocks are presented in a given order, alternativeembodiments may perform routines having steps, or employ systems havingblocks, in a different order, and some processes or blocks may bedeleted, moved, added, subdivided, combined, and/or modified. Each ofthese processes or blocks may be implemented in a variety of differentways. Also, while processes or blocks are at times shown as beingperformed in series, these processes or blocks may instead be performedin parallel, or may be performed at different times.

The teachings of the invention provided herein can be applied to othersystems, not necessarily the system described above. The elements andacts of the various embodiments described above can be combined toprovide further embodiments.

While some embodiments of the inventions have been described, theseembodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are notintended to limit the scope of the disclosure. Indeed, the novel methodsand systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of otherforms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in theform of the methods and systems described herein may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the disclosure. The accompanying claims andtheir equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications aswould fall within the scope and spirit of the disclosure.

The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover suchforms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of theprotection. For example, the various components illustrated in thefigures may be implemented as software and/or firmware on a processor,ASIC/FPGA, or dedicated hardware. Also, the features and attributes ofthe specific embodiments disclosed above may be combined in differentways to form additional embodiments, all of which fall within the scopeof the present disclosure. Although the present disclosure providescertain preferred embodiments and applications, other embodiments thatare apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, includingembodiments which do not provide all of the features and advantages setforth herein, are also within the scope of this disclosure. Accordingly,the scope of the present disclosure is intended to be defined only byreference to the appended claims.

Methods and processes described herein may be embodied in, and partiallyor fully automated via, software code modules executed by one or moregeneral and/or special purpose computers. The word “module” may refer tologic embodied in hardware and/or firmware, or to a collection ofsoftware instructions, possibly having entry and exit points, written ina programming language, such as, for example, C or C++. A softwaremodule may be compiled and linked into an executable program, installedin a dynamically linked library, or may be written in an interpretedprogramming language such as, for example, BASIC, Perl, or Python. Itwill be appreciated that software modules may be callable from othermodules or from themselves, and/or may be invoked in response todetected events or interrupts. Software instructions may be embedded infirmware, such as an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM).“Module” may further refer to one or more devices, components, systems,or subsystems, which may conceptually implement relevant functionality.It will be further appreciated that hardware modules may be comprised ofconnected logic units, such as gates and flip-flops, and/or may becomprised of programmable units, such as programmable gate arrays,application specific integrated circuits, and/or processors. The modulesdescribed herein are preferably implemented as software modules, but maybe represented in hardware and/or firmware. Moreover, although in someembodiments a module may be separately compiled, in other embodiments amodule may represent a subset of instructions of a separately compiledprogram, and may not have an interface available to other logicalprogram units.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for monitoring a networkcommunication system onboard a vehicle, the apparatus comprising: anetwork interface; and control circuitry configured to: obtain locationdata indicating geographic locations of a plurality of vehicles within ageographic area; generate first graphical interface data simultaneouslyrepresenting: a map of the geographic area; and a plurality of vehicleicons, each of the plurality of vehicle icons being at a position on themap corresponding to a respective geographic location of one of theplurality of vehicles; in response to receiving an indication of a firstuser input associated with a first vehicle icon of the plurality ofvehicle icons, generate second graphical interface data representing: avehicle identifier identifying a first vehicle of the plurality ofvehicles associated with the first vehicle icon; and a trip identifierfor a trip associated with the first vehicle; establish a networkconnection with an onboard server of the first vehicle using the networkinterface; receive a set of vehicle data from the onboard server via thenetwork connection; receive a set of trip data associated with acommunication service provided by the onboard server on the firstvehicle during the trip; in response to receiving an indication of asecond user input associated with the vehicle identifier, generate thirdgraphical interface data representing the set of vehicle data; and inresponse to receiving an indication of a third user input associatedwith the trip identifier, generate fourth graphical interface datarepresenting the set of trip data.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe set of vehicle data comprises unit status data for one or moredevices used to provide the communication service onboard the firstvehicle.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the one or more devicescomprises one or more of a wireless access point, an antenna powersupply, an antenna, a modem, a transceiver, and a server.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 2, wherein a visual feature of the first vehicle iconis based on the unit status data.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4, whereinthe visual feature comprises at least one of a color and a shape of thefirst vehicle icon.
 6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein: the controlcircuitry is further configured to aggregate the unit status data forthe one or more devices; the second graphical interface data representsa vehicle health icon; and a visual feature of the vehicle health iconis based on the aggregated unit status data.
 7. The apparatus of claim1, wherein the set of trip data comprises travel route data for thefirst vehicle.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the travel routedata comprises one or more service metrics of the communication serviceprovided on the first vehicle during the trip.
 9. The apparatus of claim8, wherein the one or more service metrics includes one or more of anumber of users, a connectivity status, a data rate, a data usage value,a ping latency, a ping success value, and a load time.
 10. The apparatusof claim 1, wherein the vehicle identifier is associated with a firsthyperlink and the trip identifier is associated with a second hyperlink.11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the set of vehicle data comprisesperformance data associated with the communication service provided onthe first vehicle during one or more previous trips of the firstvehicle.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein a visual feature of thefirst vehicle icon indicates a status level of the performance data. 13.The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the status level is based on one ormore of a data rate, a signal quality value, a latency, and a packetloss rate of the communication service.
 14. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the control circuitry is further configured to iterativelyperform, for the plurality of vehicles, obtaining of respective vehicledata.
 15. A method of monitoring a network communication service, themethod comprising: obtaining location data indicating geographiclocations of a plurality of vehicles within a geographic area;generating first graphical interface data simultaneously representing: amap of the geographic area; and a plurality of vehicle icons, each ofthe plurality of vehicle icons being at a position on the mapcorresponding to a respective geographic location of one of theplurality of vehicles; in response to receiving an indication of a firstuser input associated with a first vehicle icon of the plurality ofvehicle icons, generating second graphical interface data representing:a vehicle identifier identifying a first vehicle of the plurality ofvehicles associated with the first vehicle icon; and a trip identifierfor a trip associated with the first vehicle; establishing a networkconnection with an onboard server of the first vehicle using a networkinterface; receiving a set of vehicle data from the onboard server viathe network connection; receiving a set of trip data associated with acommunication service provided by the onboard server on the firstvehicle during the trip; in response to receiving an indication of asecond user input associated with the vehicle identifier, generatingthird graphical interface data representing the set of vehicle data; andin response to receiving an indication of a third user input associatedwith the trip identifier, generating fourth graphical interface datarepresenting the set of trip data.
 16. The method of claim 15, whereinthe set of vehicle data comprises unit status data for one or moredevices associated with the communication service onboard the firstvehicle.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more devicescomprises one or more of a wireless access point, an antenna powersupply, an antenna, a modem, a transceiver, and a server.
 18. The methodof claim 16, wherein a visual feature of the first vehicle icon is basedon the unit status data.
 19. The method of claim 16, further comprisingaggregating the unit status data for the one or more devices, wherein:the second graphical interface data represents a vehicle health icon;and a visual feature of the vehicle health icon is based on theaggregated unit status data.
 20. The method of claim 15, wherein: theset of trip data comprises travel route data for the first vehicle; thetravel route data comprises one or more service metrics of thecommunication service provided on the first vehicle during the trip. 21.The method of claim 15, wherein: the set of vehicle data comprisesperformance data for the communication service provided on the firstvehicle during one or more previous trips of the first vehicle; and atleast one visual feature of the first vehicle icon indicates a statuslevel of the performance data.
 22. The method of claim 21, wherein thestatus level is based on one or more of a data rate, a signal qualityvalue, a latency, and a packet loss rate of the network communicationservice.
 23. A system for monitoring a network communication service,the system comprising: a plurality of onboard servers, each onboardserver of the plurality of onboard servers being disposed onboard avehicle of a plurality of vehicles; and a subsystem comprising: adisplay device; and an on-ground server configured to: establish anetwork connection with each onboard server of the plurality of onboardservers; obtain location data indicating respective geographic locationsof the plurality of vehicles within a geographic area; generate, fordisplay on the display device, first graphical interface datasimultaneously representing: a map of the geographic area; and aplurality of vehicle icons, each of the plurality of vehicle icons beingat a position on the map corresponding to a respective geographiclocation of one of the plurality of vehicles; in response to receivingan indication of a first user input associated with a first vehicle iconof the plurality of vehicle icons, generate, for display on the displaydevice, second graphical interface data representing: a vehicleidentifier identifying a first vehicle of the plurality of vehiclesassociated with the first vehicle icon; and a trip identifier for a tripassociated with the first vehicle; receive a set of vehicle data from afirst onboard server onboard the first vehicle via the networkconnection; receive a set of trip data associated with a communicationservice provided by the first onboard server during the trip; inresponse to receiving an indication of a second user input associatedwith the vehicle identifier, generate, for display on the displaydevice, third graphical interface data representing the set of vehicledata; and in response to receiving an indication of a third user inputassociated with the trip identifier, generate, for display on thedisplay device, fourth graphical interface data representing the set oftrip data.
 24. The system of claim 23, wherein the display device isremotely located from the on-ground server.
 25. The system of claim 23,wherein the set of vehicle data comprises unit status data for one ormore devices configured to be used to provide the communication serviceonboard the first vehicle.
 26. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thecommunication service is provided for use by one or more media clientsonboard the first vehicle.
 27. The method of claim 15, wherein thecommunication service is provided for use by one or more media clientsonboard the first vehicle.
 28. The system of claim 23, wherein thecommunication service is provided for use by one or more media clientsonboard the first vehicle.
 29. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: thefirst vehicle icon is selectable via user input; and the first userinput is at the first vehicle icon.
 30. The method of claim 15, wherein:the first vehicle icon is selectable via user input; and the first userinput is at the first vehicle icon.
 31. The system of claim 23, wherein:the first vehicle icon is selectable via user input; and the first userinput is at the first vehicle icon.